Thread: Low carb diet for maintenance

Hi all!

I'm almost at target doing the Cambridge diet (VLCD) and I am planning for maintenance now. I used to do calorie counting but not only is it time consuming but i saw myself over eating carbs and carbs really make me bloat and put on weight!! I have ordered dr Charles Clark's book and I am really looking forward to starting on my low carb journey.

My question to you is- is it realistic to fallow a low carb diet 40g carbs/day 5-6 days a week and have one "high carb day" a week if u include 3 days exercise, this is for maintenance.

Would appreciate feedback

Maddie xx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

This is what i plan to do too , sort of

Im currently losing weight on slim and save vlcd but want to use something low carb/ low GI/GL

I find it all a bit confusing at the moment but hope to gradually get my head round it
I also want to have a day off , Saturdays are my treat day and I dont want to feel like Im on a diet for the rest of my life and cant ever just eat what I want , within reason of course

I definitely think it is possible and hope to start adding some exercise in too , the Patrick Holburn Low GL diet recommends 35 mins 3 times a wek or 15 mins per day

Just seems like a mountain of information to get through ,and some info seems quite confusing and contradictory

I dont think I could stay below 40 carbs a day , that seems very low , the vlcd im doing is more than that at about 50

Anyway good luck with it

Hi, I am new to the forum but have been low carbing for about two and a half years, partially as i am wheat intolerant and partially because it is the only thing that has worked!

I wouldn't reccommend taking a day off a week. On a low carb diet of under about 60g carbs your body enters ketosis the fat burning mode and you go through a stage of carb withdrawral that can range from 1-4 days of headaches and generally feeling rubbish. By taking time off the diet you can knock yourself out of ketosis and so you will have to go through the withdrawal again...every week... Apart from this, taking time off also means a big spike and then drop in your blood sugar which makes it harder to get back on the diet because the cravings will return.

Of course if you have both been doing VLCD your bodies might respond differently to me who has never done a VLCD. It might result in your tolerance of carbs being lower and so you will avoid the swing. The only way of knowing is to try...

I dont mean to put you off, but if you find you feel unwell every week after your day off the diet it is good to know why! I hope this will not be the case with you. some people are lucky!

Thanks , sorry i should have said I wont be low carbing to lose weight ,Im doing that with the vlcd until I reach goal
I will eating low carb to maintain my weight and generally eat more healthily

I wont be going into ketosis at all, Im really just trying to avoid what made me gain the weight in the first place , my weakness for bread and pasta :-)

sorry should have been clearer , thanks for the advice

Hi Pheonix, thats great, from what i have learned about VLCD the hardest part of the transition is going back on to a more normal diet as your body can go into binge mode after eating so much less, is this right? This is the main reason i avoided them, that and i like eating too much! my motto when i was losing was to eat as normally as possible so i wouldn't get used to eating small amounts and possibly effect my matabolism. Low carbing is pretty much a permenant state for me, i was converted! i feel so much better, less bloating, less cravings, less hunger and generally more stable which i think is from having a more constant blood sugar level. So i would recommend it both for losing weight and for maintaining.

Sorry if i sound like im a know it all! its a habit i have from the go lower forum that i was on for a year!

Which VLCD are you on?

Im on slim and save

I did try other diets in the past but never lost more than 10lb before losing the will to live , I dont handle slow weight loss very well and I have found this works really well for me , i suppose we all have to find what suits us

I also love food , eating is a big part of my life and has to be enjoyable, i now that sounds obvious but Im not sure some people understand the passion you can have for eating , they are probably the skinny ones lol

Im grateful for your input after all Im so new to this and you have been doing it for a while

ive started this thread http://www.minimins.com/slim-save-re...carb-life.html (My new low carb life) and just hoping im on the right path really ?

im following patrick holburn , though not to the letter , just as a guide really and a way of rebalancing my eating habits

Hi pheonix, i'm with you on loving food. i would rather enjoy food and have a hard time being slim then not enjoy it i think. This is why i chose to low carb which lowers your appettite. i tried weight watchers for a while and was going mental because of the small portions as it had no plan for reducing my appettite (i am used to big portions)

Do you count your carbs ?

i know ill need around 1450 calories per day to maintain my goal weight
but the carbs are calculated at between 150 and 300 per day which really confuses me

does it mean if you are eating complex carbs you can have more , is that why the range is so wide ?

To be honest i don't count them at the moment because i am so used to eating low carb food that i know i am below the limit. i have just got back into a more drastic version in order to lose a bit more weight so if i dont lose anything this week i will start counting again to see what i can change. My normal diet just cuts out the BIG FOUR (pasta, potato, bread and rice) and keeps my suger down, so no cake. but when i am trying to lose, i cut down on the higher carb fruit and vegetables too and reduces portions to one helping instead of two or three!!!

150-300g seems like a lot. i think a normal diet recommendation is around 310 or so. As far as i know carbs is carbs so in what form shouldn't matter obviously the more complex the better though for nutrition and GI reasons.

The range maybe that large in order to cater to people with different motabolisms i.e. some people may be able to get away with eating more. When i was on go lowers forum there were people who gained weight if they went off diet at all, but i seemed to be able to get away with cheating once in a while.

I has a lot to do with age, activity level, gender, and probably diet history too as well as luck! Most of the ladies were middle aged and diet veterens whereas i was 24, active and had never really dieted before. i was also completly addicted to carbs.

My suggestion is to start with 150g and see how you go, if you still lose weight then up the number!

Sorry, this turned into a very long 'quick reply'

Bug X

No thats perfect Thankyou so much
It answers a lot of the questions i had
Great Advice